Friday, 25 October 2013

Media Quotes of the Week: From Rusbridger rubbishes Royal Charter plans as 'medieval nonsense' to Indy puts Prince George on page 27

Alan Rusbridger speaking at a London Press club debate on investigative journalism, as quoted by the London Evening Standard: “What journalists have to do is create something clearly independent of
politicians and the press and we would get a lot of support from the
public. But this medieval piece of nonsense which appeared out of the
blue is the thing that has hideously complicated things.”

Tom Bower also at the London Press Club debate, as reported by the Guardian: "Unless the Guardian in my view agrees to the last chance of self
regulation we are going to find ourselves disunited as journalists,
fighting amongst ourselves, which will only benefit others."

Ed Miliband on the Fleet Street press at a private dinner for Labour donors, according to the Financial Times:
"We've got to be willing to call these people out. They are less
powerful than people ever thought and they are less powerful now than
they were."

A light in the darkness: New ad promoting national press highlights campaigns and exclusives over MP's expenses, Hillsborough, Phone Hacking, Stephen Lawrence, Help for Heroes, National Security Agency, Cycle Safety and WikiLeaks.

Martin Belam
‏@MartinBelamon Twitter: "It’s almost like newspaper execs got round a table and had the chance to nominate the one story most likely to annoy the others."

Hacked Off’s executive director Brian Cathcart, in response to a letter from seven international media associations to the Queen asking her not to grant the Royal Charter on the press:
"It’s obvious that these bodies have been duped into taking this
initiative by the big British press companies. The letter shows that
they are completely misinformed about the content and purpose of the
Royal Charter and that unlike the British public they have fallen for
the hysterical scaremongering of a small group of self-interested
editors and proprietors."

Martin Sixsmith, asked by the Observer if he was scared of Alastair Campbell: "I certainly never felt intimidated. I've done wars, murders,
revolutions, earthquakes, natural disasters. I felt a bit scared in war
zones but I certainly didn't feel scared by spin doctors."

Peter Preston in the Observer: "Parliament's own approved regulator, if proceeded with, will need a fine
array of imposing names to people its recognition and appointments
committees, not to mention the board of the regulator itself. And Ipso
will require exactly the same quality membership. Joe Public isn't going
to be over-impressed by a random selection of available Joe Soaps."Local Government minister Eric Pickles, speaking on the BBC Sunday Politics show, on the Royal Charter for press regulation: "If the press want to have an additional
protection that the Royal Charter operates, then they can move into the
system, but if they want to continue independently, that's perfectly
acceptable."

Joshua Hatch, chair of the Online Journalism Awards, on theGuardianwinning two awards for its NSA files stories based on leaks by analyst Edward Snowden: "It was a story that couldn't be ignored and that's what watchdog
is. When that story came out, people not only in the US but around the
world stood up and took action. The reaction speaks for itself.
And it was done effectively online. They got the most important story of
the year and they told it well. This was a combination of most
important and told well. That's a tough combination to beat."

The Grey Cardigan on TheSpinAlley: "If
you want an accurate indicator of the middle-class Middle England
mindset, you must turn to the Daily Telegraph. Not to its leader article
or its columnists, but to the pocket cartoons drawn by the genius that
is Matt Pritchett. And in yesterday’s newspaper/website/tablet/phone app
whatever, Matt put the boot into the cops with some venom. 'He says
it’s half past two, but he’s probably lying' isn’t the funniest of jokes
(the man himself sets the bar so high) but for a 10-word condemnation
of how we now view the constabulary, it’s devastating."

David Mitchell in the Observer: "The trouble is that the press, particularly the tabloid press, has made
itself so loathed that they're difficult people to defend or sympathise
with. Many of them deserved a comeuppance, so it's easy to focus on the
nasty people having a nasty time and ignore the potentially disastrous
collateral damage to our ancient freedom to say, write and print what we
like without any permission or official sanction."

Early Day Motion: "That this House notes with concern the detention by the Russian
authorities of journalist Kieron Bryan who was under contract to record a
film for Greenpeace when he was arrested on 19 September 2013, and is
now detained in Murmansk; believes that he is neither a criminal nor a
threat to the Russian state and that he should be released immediately;
is dismayed that he is facing charges of piracy which carry a sentence
of up to 15 years' imprisonment."

Lord Black of Brentwood, Chairman of the Press Standards Board of
Finance, in a statement on why the publishing industry is seeking a judicial review of the Privy Council decision to reject the Royal Charter on press regulation backed by publishers:"The Government and the Privy Council should
have applied the most rigorous standards of consultation and examination
of the Royal Charter proposed by the industry, which would have
enshrined tough regulatory standards at the same time as protecting
press freedom. They singularly failed to do so, and that is why – as the
issues at stake are so extraordinarily high - we are having to take
this course of action.”

About Me

I am a freelance journalist based in the UK and was deputy editor of Press Gazette, the journalists' magazine, from 1993 until 2006. I want to give an independent view on media matters.
You can contact me with stories, ideas and comments by email at jon.slattery369@btinternet.com You can also follow me on Twitter @jonslattery